Friday, May 18, 2012

I was excited when Jen from Ellison Lane Quilts asked me to share a new project to inspire some summer-time sewing. I've wanted to make a new bag for myself forever, and this was the perfect opportunity to try something new.

For this bag, I chose Anna's Go Anywhere Bag pattern. I recently given a charm pack of Lotta Jansdotter's new prints from her Bella collection by the nice people at Windham Fabrics. The colors screamed summer to me, so I decided to try piecing a portion of the bag using them coupled with a few other fabrics from the stash.

To make the pieced exterior pockets, I sewed the charm squares together to make a panel slightly larger than the pocket lining.

Then, to give the bag some extra weight and body, I quilted the pieced panels onto some lightweight batting. (I did not put a backing fabric behind the batting.) From there I cut out my front and back pocket pieces from the quilted panels and followed the rest of the pattern instructions.

For the body of my bag I used a heavier linen-type fabric I got a while ago at Ikea. (I would love to find some more of that.) The lining is from Denyse Schmidt's Aunt Edna collection at JoAnn. It was just the right chartreuse to go with the Bella collection. I added a covered button to hold the back pocket closed. Ta-dah! I'm excited to carry my new summer bag around Quilt Market this weekend!

Oh it is so cute Amy! I love the quilted patchwork feel and the fabrics are perfect for summer. Thanks SO much for taking part in the inspirational blog hop. Your work is definitely inspiring to me! Have a great weekend. xo

http://www.fabrics-store.com/ These guys have linen-in all different weights, colors, etc. Most is 59 inches or more wide. They will send a free swatch card that has all of the weights on it too. I'm waiting for mine to come before I order. But go check them out. The linen cotton blend (bleached) is $5.47 per yard!!!!!

this is beautiful...I have recently done a similar block with my charm pack! http://www.flickr.com/photos/blueberrypark/7217348298/in/photostream This bag is awesome and you are definitely all set for summer!

your bag is super duper cute, Amy. it was sooooooooo great to meet you at quilt market. :) i enjoyed reading your posts recapping it. i'm still a bit overwhelmed by all of it, aren't you? but in a good way, of course!

I love it! I just did almost the exact same thing last week--same pattern and pieced the front pocket with a charm pack of California Girl. Didn't have enough for the back pocket, so I pieced the handles instead. I should have actually quilted it like you did, though. It looks awesome like that!

I adore this bag! Just gorgeous! I hope you will consider uploading a photo of it into SewSet, a new on-line sewing pattern & tutorial search engine. I would love for others to be able to find it and you when searching!!!

I belong

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